The Instagram account of ‘Susan Cropper’
An Instagram post by a lucky lottery winner has quickly gone viral, with a Hervey Bay grandmother apparently offering to give away some of her winnings.
‘I WON $70 million on the PowerBall and would like to give some back,’ an account under the name of Susan Cropper wrote on Instagram.
‘$1000 to first 100,000 people to follow and shout out this account,’ she continued, promising that the money would be transferred via PayPal.
The account @SusanCropper quick amassed more than 55,300 followers in two days.
Under a photograph her her holding a giant novelty check make out to ‘Hervey Bay Grandparents’, she wrote.
‘Just about one year ago today I walked in and collected my $70 million cheque.
‘Susan Cropper’ poses with a novelty cheque she claims is from Powerball for $70 million
‘To mark this day we want to give back a little something to the hard workers of our lovely world.’
However, eagle-eyed followers of the would-be lottery winner have quickly picked holes in her story.
‘Um [you] said you’ll give $1000 to the top 100,000 people, which means [you] are giving away $100 million dollars when [you] only won $70 million dollars… make sense?’ commented Sharon Kanabaddi.
Apart from the fact that the Instagram account only contains two photos and follows 0 users, the ‘proof’ offered is a link to an article about two anonymous January 2016 Powerball winners.
Another Instagram user, Nick Korten, has tracked down ‘Susan Cropper’ and identified her photo as the same as that of a marketing and advertising manager named ‘Beth Power’.
Mr Korten has encouraged people to tag their friends to help expose the scammer who is posing as ‘Susan’.
Mr Nick Korten has exposed the scammer going by the name of Susan Cropper as Beth Bower
Responses ranged from ‘Surely this isn’t real’ skepticism to ‘If it seems too good to be true, it probably is’.
7News Brisbane also reported that ‘Susan Cropper’ was a scam Instagram account after Tatts Lotto confirmed that there was no Powerball winner by that name.
The scam Instagram account was deleted at 5.45pm on Tuesday night, but not before thousands of people shared, reposted and tagged the account.
Meanwhile, Facebook has been flooded with memes bemoaning the stupidity and gullibility of internet users.
In September 2017, an Instagram user going by ‘Rhys Chilton’ claimed to have won $70 million
‘Rhys Chilton’ used several hashtags to try and convince people of his authenticity e.g. #real
Meanwhile, former contestant on The Bachelorette, Rhys Chilton, has attempted to get in on the joke by Photoshopping himself holding a $70 million cheque.
He also went one step further and posted a picture of his bank account into which he claims the the $70 million was paid.
Rhys wrote, ‘No joke everyone. Last month I won 70 Million dollars and today I want to give some back!!’
Rhys Chilton posted pictures of what said is his bank account, containing over $70 million
Rhys wrote, ‘No joke everyone. Last month I won 70 Million dollars…I want to give some back!’